Nashville, IN

Nashville is Brown County's seat and only incorporated town, with 1,256 residents in the 2020 census. The town sits among the county's sandstone ridges, wooded hills, and narrow valleys, and it is the center of the Brown County Art Colony. Galleries, studios, restaurants, and small shops share the downtown streets with county offices, so art and local government occupy the same compact center. A short walk through downtown can shift from gallery windows to courthouse work and school traffic, all in one stretch.

ATTRSerge Melki from Indianapolis, USA / CC BY 2.0

Brown County State Park begins just outside town and covers nearly 16,000 acres, with hiking and mountain-bike trails, a saddle barn, horse trails, and Abe Martin Lodge. Brown County School District's central campus is in Nashville, giving the town a year-round school routine alongside its art and park economy. The local map is easy to remember: county seat in the middle, art businesses through downtown, schools nearby, and the state's largest park spreading across the hills beyond town.